Pakistan: Nowshera Health Centre

Update on Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Situation

The government’s stance on IDPs was always immediate attention and provision of IDPs’ basic necessities while displaced, with the ultimate goal of voluntary and safe repatriation to their homes.

According to the latest Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) repatriation reports of August 2016, a total of 179,174 families have been successfully repatriated back to their homes, leaving behind a total of 124,617 families who are still displaced. According to official sources, the cut-off date for the return of all IDPs is December 2016.

Proposed Changes

Given that the IDP population is reducing, the urgency of the need for a MCH center has lessened, because the government’s health infrastructure is slowly strengthening itself and is getting back on its feet to handle the reduced burden of healthcare demand.

RMF’s Maternal and Child Health Centre (MCH) in Tarru Jabba has two key components that make its services valuable despite the changing face of the situation:

• It is the only primary level healthcare facility in the Union Council of Tarru Jabba that provides pathology lab services for routine investigations and ultrasound services.
• By virtue of these two services, patients are referred to our center by other healthcare facilities, including some private practitioners, making this a valuable addition to the healthcare service infrastructure of the union council.

RMF policymakers have decided that we should continue our operations in this area for at least one more year.

Proposed changes have been to include a small token fee for the above two services as well as an OPD consultation fee.

However, given that the average income of the local region is well below the poverty line, these token fees will be subject to only those who can afford to pay.